Golden State Warriors (22-28)At the risk of repeating myself, when is coach Keith Smart going to start giving more than cursory minutes to rookie Ekpe Udoh? On Monday, phoenix blitzed Golden State 20-6 in the first six minutes and never looked back, in large part because neither David Lee nor Andris Biedrins could guard Channing Frye -- who had a trio of three-pointers in the span -- on the perimeter. Udoh's quickness and defensive savvy were a perfect match for Frye and Phoenix -- he finished plus-13 in 15 minutes, with the next most effective Warrior at plus-1. Yes, it is a tiny sample of one game, and the 317 minutes Udoh has logged this season isn't much bigger. But according to Basketball Value, nobody improves the Warriors' defense (or overall game) more than Udoh when he's on the court.

Definitely needs to start over Biedrins. AB is who he is and won't improve - I've accepted that. Udoh could be that defensive stopper in the post we've needed for so long so he deserves his opportunity. He's played amazingly well for pretty much having 0 action during the summer/training camp and all.

Udoh needs to get in the game more. Have Lee guard centers since most in the league have limited offensive game and his footspeed is more adept for guarding Centers. Any time we are facing a solid PF or C, Udoh needs significant minutes.

also agree. he and Biedrins should split minutes. when you have bad defenders like Curry Monta D.Lee, you gotta have a guy in there that lifts the play of everyone else on the defensive side. gotta have Udoh in there cuz from what I've seen he increases the intensity of the team on D.

Keith Smart has nothing to gain by giving Udoh more minutes. This guy is auditioning for a permanent head coaching gig whether its here or elsewhere. Don't forget that this guy is officially the interim coach since Nellie stepped down weeks before training camp started. He's going to try and win as many games as he can which is why guys like Monta Ellis, Curry and Lee are playing 40+ minutes. In some cases...48 minutes.

They did the same thing with Mike Montgomery and Eric Musselman. Either win or get fired. Thats not how it should work and hopefully, the first coach that Lacob and Gruber hires, will be given time to build a team and develop young players like Udoh.

if he's trying to win games then he has everything to gain by playing Udoh. this 2 center combo of Beans & Udoh can be effective imo. gives the Warriors flexibility based on need at the time. put in Beans if we're getting outrebounded, put in Udoh if the defense needs to pick up.

i dunno if anyone noticed this, but in the 4th, udoh had a huge problem boxing out jefferson... andris had to check in for him... dont get me wrong tho, i'd still rather have him in instead of biedrins...

Al Jefferson is a wily vet, and a huge 280 lb. body. Udoh having trouble boxing him out may be nothing more than him being a rookie.

It is so hard to develop a competent, legit big in the NBA. Since we have the foundation of one who is as good (or at least close) to our current under-performing center, why not give him some run and see where it goes? He may get beaten by some good players, but we're building towards something.

At the very least, Udoh is a shot blocking threat and energy guy. We could definitely use that...